24 February 2006

Federal Tax Agency Investigated Partisan Politicking By Nonprofits In 2004 And Plans To Do So Again This Year, Says New Report

WASHINGTON - February 24 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State today welcomed a new report by the Internal Revenue Service detailing its enforcement of the federal tax law barring partisan political activity by churches and other charities.

The report notes that the IRS examined activities by 132 non-profits from 2004 as part of its initiative. It reports that “fewer than half” were churches. The IRS concluded that in many of the cases, significant violations of the law had occurred. The tax agency also announced plans to vigorously enforce the law during this election year.

“This report proves that the IRS intends to fully enforce the law barring houses of worship from intervening in political campaigns,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Pastors tempted to follow the Religious Right’s siren song into partisan activity need to sit up and take notice.”

Continued Lynn, “Churches have no business becoming cogs in a candidate’s political machine. It damages the integrity of the church, and it violates federal tax law. This report indicates that the IRS takes allegations of violations seriously.”

[...] “This report should lay to rest Religious Right claims that houses of worship have a right to engage in partisan politicking,” said Lynn. “They don’t, and any that ignore the law and do so anyway could face severe sanctions.”

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Government Accountability Report

While electronic voting systems hold promise for a more accurate and efficient election process, numerous entities have raised concerns about their security and reliability, citing instances of weak security controls, system design flaws, inadequate system version control, inadequate security testing, incorrect system configuration, poor security management, and vague or incomplete voting system standards, among other issues. For example, studies found (1) some electronic voting systems did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected; (2) it was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate; and (3) vendors installed uncertified versions of voting system software at the local level. It is important to note that many of the reported concerns were drawn from specific system makes and models or from a specific jurisdictions election, and that there is a lack of consensus among election officials and other experts on the pervasiveness of the concerns. Nevertheless, some of these concerns were reported to have caused local problems in federal elections resulting in the loss or miscount of votes and therefore merit attention.

'In Ohio" - Free MP3

Madog Pavanelli & the Virtual Country Boys new song, "In Ohio"

3 T I M E S I N O H I O

Ohio's Presidential Election was a fraud in 2000 and 2004. Care to go for three? They can. They control the elections. That'll be three times Ohio handed over the country. What about the current insane financial devastation? With that, George Bush can cross the last task off his "to screwup" list. Congress and the major candidates don't even want to get it. Wall street most surely gets it - and keeps on getting it. Meanwhile people are losing their homes, jobs and savings. We need to hold them all accountable and stop all this. In Ohio, the poster child for stolen elections... does Main Street really care??